Bush out of the doghouse as Dolphins regroup

Bush out of the doghouse as Dolphins regroup

MIAMI (AP) Reggie Bush is out of coach Joe Philbin's doghouse, which might not be large enough to house all of the deserving Miami Dolphins.

Bush and teammate Richie Incognito were benched for part of Sunday's 37-3 loss to Tennessee, but they were hardly the only culprits in the Dolphins' most lopsided home defeat since 1968.

``It was an uncharacteristic performance by the whole ballclub,'' Philbin said Monday.

The defeat was Miami's second in a row, a deflating development for a team hoping to end a streak of three consecutive losing seasons and perhaps even sneak into the playoffs. The Dolphins (4-5) must regroup quickly before playing Thursday at Buffalo in their lone prime-time game this year.

Despite the short week, Philbin felt the need to review the meltdown against the Titans with his team.

``When you play like that, we need to make some corrections,'' Philbin said. ``We need to make improvements, even though we're in a semi-time crunch.''

Bush's mistake was very publicly noted. He lost a fumble six minutes into the game to set up the Titans' first score, spent the rest of the first half on the sideline and carried only four times for 21 yards.

Philbin seemed ready to put the matter in the past, at least unless Bush coughs the ball up again. He has committed three fumbles and lost two this season.

``He's not in any doghouse that I know of,'' Philbin said. ``The guy shows up, he practices hard, works hard and is competitive. He is very, very professional.''

Incognito, long labeled among the NFL's dirtiest players, was called for unnecessary roughness to take Miami out of field-goal range in the second quarter and was briefly yanked from the game.

Philbin said he has a tough standard when it comes to players taking accountability for their mistakes.

``A zero tolerance policy,'' he said. ``A coach's job is to prepare players to perform well. Their job is to perform. We have to put them in a position to be successful. That mesh didn't get done Sunday. It's on us, it's on them, it's on me ultimately, because I'm the head coach.

``We - meaning coaches and players - have to do a better job. With these guys, the proof will be in the pudding, but I suspect they have a high level of accountability.''

Bush and Incognito said they understood why Philbin benched them.

``I made a mistake, and he wanted to address it then and there,'' Incognito said. ``So, it was handled.''

Said Bush: ``I've got to do a better job protecting the ball. I've been in this league long enough to where I know protecting the ball is the most important thing as a running back. I didn't even deserve to go back into the game.''

After a fast start this season, Bush is averaging only 45 yards rushing over the past seven games. He's on pace to fall shy of 1,000 yards.

``I have to apologize to Dolphin Nation,'' he tweeted. ``My performance these past few weeks has been poor & I'm embarrassed right now! You guys deserve better.''

The entire team has backslid the past two weeks. The ground game and run defense - which had been the strengths of the team - no longer look so formidable. And rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill's steady progress stalled Sunday, when he threw three interceptions.

Tannehill has only five touchdown passes this year, which ranks 33rd in the 32-team NFL. His passer rating of 73.2 is 29th. The offense he directs hasn't scored a TD in the past six quarters.

However, Tannehill did win praise for risking his health after his third interception, when he made an open-field tackle on 242-pound linebacker Zach Brown.

``I was delighted,'' Philbin said. ``He's a football player. I said damn good tackle. If you're playing football, you'd better stop a guy from scoring a touchdown.''

CHICAGO—Four fans were ejected from United Center on Saturday night for taunting Devante Smith-Pelly as the Capitals’ winger sat in the penalty box.

The fans, according to a team spokesman, yelled “basketball, basketball, basketball” at Smith-Pelly, who is black. Smith-Pelly was in the box for fighting in the third period of an eventual 7-1 loss to the Blackhawks.

The taunts were confirmed by an off-ice official, the spokesman said, and the fans were subsequently removed from the arena.

Smith-Pelly did not speak with reporters after the game but is expected to address the incident at the team’s next media availability. The team is scheduled to practice Sunday at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

Caps Coach Barry Trotz did not hold back when asked about the fans' comments.

“There’s absolutely no place in the game of hockey or our country for racism,” Trotz said. “I think it’s disgusting, and there’s no place for it. …It just shows ignorance.”

“There’s absolutely no place in the game of hockey or in our country for racism.” — #Caps Coach Barry Trotz on an incident involving Devante Smith-Pelly on Saturday in Chicago. Four fans were ejected for taunting DSP when he was in penalty box. pic.twitter.com/kxn3uClSBY

3 stars of the game: Caps suffer ugly loss to scuffling Blackhawks

3 stars of the game: Caps suffer ugly loss to scuffling Blackhawks

Just about everything that could go wrong did for the Capitals on Saturday in a 7-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Caps were coming off a strong 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, but none of that carried over in the trip to Chicago. The Caps took on a Blackhawks team that had lost eight in a row, but Chicago quickly took control in the first period and never looked back.

Washington gave up 21 shots on goal in the first period and found themselves down 3-1 after the opening frame. Things did not get much better from there as they gave up another three goals in the final four minutes of the second.

Here are the three stars of the game.

1. Jonathan Toews: Toews opened up the scoring in the first period with a quick shot from the corner that caught Braden Holtby by surprise.

Later in the first, he recorded an assist as his pass sparked a breakout that led to Brandon Saad's deal that gave Chicago back the lead. The Caps tried to make a game of it in the second period, but Toews intercepted a pass from Brooks Orpik that led to a 2-on-0 with himself and Patrick Kane that Kane netted to give the Blackhawks a 4-1 lead and signaled to everyone that the rout was on. Saturday was only the second three-point night of the season for Toews.

2. Patrick Kane: Toews helped the Blackhawks take control early, but Kane helped provide the knockout punches in the second period. A bad pass from Orpik was intercepted by Toews that led to a 2-on-0 with Kane. Holtby made the initial save on Toews, but Kane was able to knock in the rebound for the goal.

Kane also added an assist on Artem Anisimov's power play goal which extended Chicago's lead to 6-1.

3. Tom Wilson: Before this one got out of hand, it looked like Wilson had erased the tough start for the Caps as he deflected a shot from Matt Niskanen into the net to get Washington on the board.

Saturday's tally was his third goal in two games and his 10th of the season, marking the first time in his career he has reached double digits in goals.